The EU parliamentarians will not let the dispute over the name become a condition for Macedonia's integration with the European Union, regardless of how much pressure official Athens exerts on this issue.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki received this message during his talks with a number of EU parliamentarians in Brussels yesterday. The EU parliamentarians said that they have had enough of being held hostage to Greece's problems concerning Cypress and Turkey and that they would not allow this to happen with Macedonia as well.

Foreign Minister Milososki asked the EU parliamentarians to support Macedonia at the debate on enlargement of the EU and he asked them to support a resolution for Macedonia to start negotiations for membership in the EU next year. Milososki also asked the EU parliamentarians for support when the European Parliament discusses the issues of alleviation and full liberalization of the visa regime for Macedonian citizens.